Valentine's Day Murders
by Haytar96
Summary: Kind of like Roses are red but better! There are some murders and they are all redheads! What is Tony going to do! Pepperony I don't own IMAA
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N Haha Ok I came up with this idea…which I think is a whole lot better than roses are red. A lot more Adventure and mystery…and Pepperony lol. This story is the basically the same as Roses are Red but even better.)**

**4:00 AM**

A woman hummed to herself as she balanced her coffee in one hand and paid for a newspaper with the other. She took her newspaper and began to make her way to work, being extremely early in the morning not that many people were out. A strange noise made the woman stop at the mouth of an alleyway; it was the sound of a baby crying. "Hello?" she called stepping cautiously into the darkness. The crying continued and the woman kept walking into the darkness, a light coming off of a building shone a small circle of light on a baby carrier. The woman walked forward to the carrier and slowly turned the carrier around; a hand suddenly moved around her throat and pulled her backwards making her coffee fall to the ground. The woman tried to scream but a hand covered her mouth, "Shhhh…it will all be over soon." A male voice hissed in her ear right before he cut her throat.

**7:45 AM**

Pepper shook her head making her growing hair look messy; she groaned and pulled a brush through it making it look wavy and smooth. "I need a hair cut…" she muttered and grabbed her backpack. She made her way to school but she stopped. Something felt off, like someone was watching her. Pepper turned her head in different directions but saw nothing unusual.

**7:55 AM**

Pepper walked into the school and made her way to her locker. A tapping on her shoulder made her look up to see a pair of blue eyes, Pepper smiled "hey Tony…" she said and Tony smiled and nervously looked down at his shoes. "I…ummm…Happy Valentine's Day." He said and brought a card and a small box out from behind his back. Pepper's eyes widened and she slowly took the box and card from him, "Aww….Tony…this is so sweet!" she said looking up at him. Tony smiled "open it." He said leaning against the lockers. Pepper smiled and opened the card first.

_Roses are red…_

_Violets are blue…_

_There is nothing more sweeter than you…_

_So look down whenever you're blue…_

_And know that I'm always with you._

Pepper looked up at him and smiled, she then opened the lid of the box. Pepper gasped at what she saw, a necklace sat there but it was something she has never seen before. It was just like Tony's heart monitor but smaller and attached to a silver chain. Tony gently took the necklace out of the box and placed it around the redheads neck, "if you look…the light in the center…it syncs up with mine." He said brushing her hair out of the way showing her that the light pulses like a heartbeat.

Pepper blushed and looked at her new necklace. "I…don't know what to say…" she said and Tony smiled "you don't have to say anything if you don't want to." He said. Pepper dropped the box and threw her arms around him giving a hug. Tony hugged her back but pulled away a little when his phone rang.

With one arm still around Pepper Tony pulled his phone out of his pocket and looked at it. He groaned and looked down at Pepper, "we'll talk more about this later…I have to go." He said looking down at her. Pepper bit her lip and nodded "be careful." She said hugging him again. Tony nodded kissed the top of her head and left. She sighed and began thinking about when she and Tony started to get closer.

It was when he stopped dating Whitney. They were alone in the lab together and Tony seemed really down and Pepper wanted to know what was wrong. He simply told her that he and Whitney broke up, she felt happy but she comforted him all the same. That's when they started to spend more time alone together. Pepper sighed and walked to her first class.

**8:30**

Iron Man crouched underneath the police tape and walked over to the policemen. "What happened?" he asked and they turned towards him, "Woman was cornered and her throat was cut. The killer left something behind." One of them said pulling back the sheet that covered the body, it was pretty gruesome. Her shirt was gone and only bra and pants remained, on the woman's stomach was the letter 'R' drawn in blood. "What do you think it means?" Iron Man asked while scanning the body looking for any more clues. "This is the sixth murder that's happened since midnight. All of them are the same…but with different letters. All the women are similar. Red hair, brown eyes, freckles…." A cop said shaking his head. Iron Man's head snapped up "six murders…and all of them are the same…looks like there is a serial killer on the loose." He said hiding the growing fear inside of him.

**1:00 PM**

Tony walked onto the roof of the school to see a certain redhead sitting on a crate reading a book. He smiled and walked up behind her "Watcha reading?" he asked whispering in her ear, Pepper smiled "Sherlock Holmes…" she said turning the page and putting a bookmark in her spot. Tony nodded "Not surprised you would be reading that." He said sitting down next to her. Pepper laughed and put her book away "how was the whole Iron Man thing?" she asked looking up at him.

Tony grimaced "Uhhh well there's a serial killer on the loose." He said and Pepper frowned worry etched on her face "do you know what their motive is?" she asked and Tony sighed "red hair, brown eyes, and freckles." He said looking her in the eyes. Pepper looked away only to have Tony take her chin gently and turn her head towards him. "I don't want you out of my sight." He said seriously and Pepper nodded. Tony then kissed her on the forehead and grabbed her backpack, "Come on…we need to get to class." He said and Pepper followed him off the roof but looked around herself first. That feeling of being watch suddenly washed over her, Pepper shook it off and ran off of the roof.

**1:45 PM**

Pepper and Tony sat in front of Rhodey whispering about something but he couldn't tell what. They had been becoming closer and closer and that made Rhodey very happy. Everyone looked up when the large computer screen flickered and went blank, the teacher tried to fix it but nothing happened. The screen then showed photo's of half naked dead women with letter's on their stomachs, the class gasped, the photo's whirled around the screen until all of the letter's were in order.

P-E-P-P-E-R

They all just looked at the screen in shock; more pictures flew across the screen. All of the pictures were of Pepper, and some of them were of Tony and Pepper together. Words scrolled by saying "If I can't have her…no one can." Then the power shut off completely. Pepper looked around and saw a strange red dot on Tony's chest. "Tony!" she shouted and glass shattered. A bullet flew through the air and everything seemed to slow down. Tony looked at Pepper and shouted and everything went black.

**(A/N Ok what do you think of that? Please review! Oh and sorry for my bad poetry skills! lol)**


	2. Chapter 2

Pepper looked around and saw a strange red dot on Tony's chest. "Tony!" she shouted and glass shattered. A bullet flew through the air and everything seemed to slow down. Tony looked at Pepper and shouted and everything went black.

Her chest hurt so much. It felt like it was crushed by a truck, Pepper heard whispering but she couldn't hear what they were saying. She drifted in and out of consciousness, when her eyes felt less heavy Pepper opened her eyes a fraction to see Tony pacing back and forth and Rhodey trying to comfort him and calm him down. "Tony! Man! She's going to be just fine! Calm down!" Rhodey said grabbing Tony's arm making him stop pacing back and forth. Pepper opened her eyes the rest of the way, she looked around herself and realized that she was in the armory.

Pepper grabbed hold the back of the couch and slowly pulled herself up into a sitting position. She closed her eyes as pain coursed through her chest as she moved, _Oh Ow! Ok slowly move Pepper_…she thought to herself as she moved off of the couch. Tony and Rhodey stopped arguing and looked at Pepper in shock, "Pep…!" Tony said quickly walking towards her. Pepper closed her eyes for a second as nausea shot through her; she opened her eyes again only to see the room spinning around her. As the ground suddenly moved up to meet her it stopped when a pair of arms wrapped around her. Pepper gasped at the sudden pressure on her chest.

She was soon lying back down on the couch with a worried boy sitting next to her. "Hey…" Tony whispered brushing her hair out of the way cupping her cheek. Pepper gave him a small smile "hey…what happened?" she asked confused on why she hurt so much. Anger flashed in Tony's eyes and his jaw locked, "W-whoever is after you…or was after you. Shot you in the chest. But lucky for you that this was there." He said and held up Pepper's necklace. The small version of Tony's heart monitor swung lazily on the silver chain it was on, imbedded in the center of the pendent was a bullet the size of a nickel.

"After I did CPR on you I got in the armor and tried to catch him…but there was no one in sight. I found the shell casing on the roof of a building. The window slowed it down and the necklace stopped it in its tracks." Tony said and Pepper smiled, "You saved me twice in one day…" she said. Tony shook his head and Pepper gave his hand a gentle squeeze. "You gave me the necklace that saved me from getting shot…then you performed CPR on me…" she said laughing. Tony sighed and kissed the redhead gently on the forehead "Right now…I'm just happy you're ok…" he said whispering.

They sat in silence for a long time when the computer suddenly dinged. Tony looked up and narrowed his eyes; he stood up and went to the computer. Typing a few things a message popped up on the big computer screen. The message was a video; whoever had the camera came close to the Makluan temple and wandered through it to the very back of the armory. Pepper and Tony were too stunned to speak, a package type of object came into frame and the video turned off replacing it with a clock that was ticking down.

Tony's heart was in his throat. The clock counted down, 5…4...Tony ran over to Pepper grabbing her and flipped the couch over so it was covering them…3…2…1. A deafening boom shook the entire temple sending rock down on them and everything went dark once more.

**(A/N Very Short Chapter! You will see the last of it tomorrow! HAHAHAH CLIFFHANGER!)**


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N Ok guys! Last chapter! Enjoy! Oh and Happy Valentine's Day!)**

Tony groaned and opened his eyes, dust and rock were everywhere. His lab was yet again ruined, the computer was crushed and the armors where sparking. "Pepper…" he said and slowly sat up. Pepper wasn't there, his heart started to beat faster in panic. The sofa they took cover under was turned over and Tony was chained to his work table that was crushed by a large piece of stone and rock. He pulled on the chain but it didn't give, he scooted his way over to the table and looked at the lock on the chain. "Should be easy to pick…" he muttered silently thanked Pepper for teaching him to pick locks.

Tony looked around himself for something to use. All he found was a bent screw driver; he picked it off the ground and stuck it in the lock. Tony twisted the screw driver around until the lock clicked open; he got to his feet and made his way to the armory door.

Tony held onto his side as he made his way to the Rhodes house. When he got there he grabbed the hideaway key and unlocked the door. Tony made his way to Rhodey's room and shook him awake, Rhodey's eyes snapped open and he looked annoyed. "Come on man! It's two AM!" He said but calmed down when he saw his best friends face, Rhodey sat up quickly "What's wrong." He asked concerned. "Pepper's missing." Tony said shaking. Rhodey flew out of bed and put some clothes on.

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Pepper opened her eyes only to be looking at the ceiling of a room she didn't recognize. She tried to move but her arms and legs were chained to the floor beneath her. Pepper trashed around but got nowhere, she heard a chuckle to her right and she turned her head trying to see who it was. Pepper heard footsteps and a man stood over her wearing a grin. He had messy dirty blonde hair and stormy grey eyes, almost black. "Hello Pepper…" he said happily. He crouched down next to her and stroked her cheek. Pepper jerked her head away from his hand, the guy laughed.

"You don't know me…but I know you." he said standing up again. Pepper just glared at him, "who are you?" she asked. The man smiled "my name is Dylan." He said answering her at once; Pepper huffed angrily and looked at her captor. "Well Dylan…one why did you kill those women? And two why did you try and kill me?" she asked. Dylan smirked at her as he walked around her body sizing her up, "Those women looked like you…that's….not right. I did it for you. And to the reason why I tried to kill you was that you are too beautiful and smart for anyone. I wanted to set you free, you're an angel stuck in a woman's body." He said his eyes glazed over.

"HAHAHA okay! You're CRAZY! You are so crazy…you make the Joker from Batman look like the sanest man alive!" Pepper said shouting at him. Dylan smiled and shook his head "Your human mind is clouding you…I need to set you free. People need to see me set you free." He said his eyes still glazed over. Dylan walked over to a table and grabbed a knife that was made of silver and gold; he walked over to a camera and computer and turned them on. He then walked over to Pepper holding the knife at his side, the redheads eyes widened "Ohhh… ok…that's a knife…a really…big knife…." She said panicking. Dylan smiled "This will set you free." He said crouching down touching her bare stomach. Pepper lifted her head and saw she was only wearing her underwear. _Aww crap…_she thought as her head hit the floor with a thud.

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Tony and Rhodey ran into the city only to end up in Time Square **(A/N Yes I love Time Square…lol) **Rhodey hit Tony's shoulder and pointed up at the big screens. A video began to play and it wasn't good, Pepper was chained to a stone floor and someone walked towards her holding a rather large knife. "This will set you free." The man said touching Pepper's bare stomach and Tony bristled with anger; the man took the knife and cut a cross onto her stomach. Both boys were frozen into place in shock, Pepper yelped in pain and struggled against the chains that held her down. The man lifted the knife above her heart and was about to strike when Pepper yelled out "Stop!" the man surprisingly stopped what he was doing and looked at her intently. Pepper gave him a sweet smile but you could tell it was fake, "Can I be free for this part?" she asked kindly. Dylan smiled at her and set down the knife, he freed her legs from the floor but kept the shackles on her then he freed her arms. He picked up the knife again not noticing that Pepper wrapped her wrist around the chain she was still attached to and swung it up and hit him in the head with it.

Dylan cried out in pain and fell backwards on to the floor. Pepper got up quickly and ran towards the door with the chains clanging behind her.

Tony didn't know what to do; he didn't know where to go. He felt so useless.

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Pepper ran out the door, her chains clanged behind her making it harder to move. She ran out another door and onto the street, people looked at her shocked. Pepper looked at them "help…" she said desperately. The door she came out of clanged against the wall of the building and Dylan stepped out his nose bleeding and he had a crazy grin on his face. Pepper stumbled towards the people on the street and they blocked her from the crazy man with the knife, Dylan slashed at the people with the knife and they jumped out of the way. He ran to Pepper, the redhead froze paralyzed in her place. "PEPPER!" someone shouted but it wasn't Dylan's voice it was Tony's.

Tony was running down the street towards her. Dylan grabbed her before she could do anything and ran his knife into her stomach, blood spotted her vision and the ground was flying towards her. "PEPEPR!" Tony shouted dropping to his knees next to her; he put his hands on her stomach trying to stop the bleeding. "You're going to be ok!" he said shouting making sure she could hear him. "Someone call an ambulance!" Rhodey shouted angrily. People were just staring at the dying girl in shock.

Pepper looked up at Tony and saw that tears were rolling his cheeks and then she saw nothing for the third time that day.

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**5 Weeks later:**

Tony walked over to Pepper's bedside table and replaced the dead flowers. He looked at her and sat down in the chair beside her bed still holding the dead flowers, he rubbed his eyes with his hand looked at the slumbering redhead. She had been in a coma for about five weeks now and it has been driving him crazy, he wants to know she's ok. Tony stood up and threw the flowers away; he turned back and looked at Pepper again. A knock at the door made him jump and Pepper's nurse stuck her head in and smiled at him. "Hey Tony dear…I need to check on her…" she said and Tony nodded "Sure Molly…go ahead…" he said and sat in the chair by the window. Molly smiled at him and made her way into the room with a cart. The nurse checked Pepper's chart and then her bandages, and then she gave her more medicine. "Are you hungry dear? I haven't seen you eat in days…." Molly said looking over at him. Tony shook his head "No I'm fine…" he said and Molly gave him a stern motherly look, "Ok…just eat something soon." She said and Tony nodded.

The next day Rhodey walked into Pepper's hospital room and looked over and saw Tony snoozing by her bed as usual. He walked over and shook his friends shoulder, "Tony! Come on wake up!" he said and Tony's head shot up confused. "What? Is she awake?" he asked and looked at Pepper. His face fell when he saw no change. Rhodey sighed and tugged his best friend out of the chair he was sitting in. "Come on…you need a break." He said tugging him towards the door. Tony shook his head and tugged back, "No can't…what if Pepper wakes up?" he asked. Rhodey sighed and looked at him "Tony…if she wakes up the hospital will call you." he said and tugged Tony out the door.

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Tony and Rhodey walked back through Pepper's hospital room door a couple of hours later to see a very large vase with blood red roses. Tony quickly walked over to the flowers and saw a card sitting next to them. He opened a card and pulled out Pepper's school picture. It had red words over her face that read.

I'LL BE BACK NEXT YEAR.

SHE WILL BE FREE.

Tony shook with anger and sat on the side of Pepper's bed. He took her hand "he will never come near her again." He said still shaking. Rhodey nodded and threw the flowers away.

**1 month and 4 days later: Pepper woke up 2 weeks ago….**

Pepper took a pill Tony gave her and drank her water. Tony watched her take it then he wrapped his arms around her. Pepper smiled and hugged him back, she felt him rest his head on her shoulder and felt his breath tickle her neck. "What?" she asked and Tony shook his head "nothing…you're awake…that's all that matter's right now…" he said. Pepper stood there and ran her fingers through his hair. He straightened and looked at her and smiled. Pepper's meds started to kick in and she became sleepy and dizzy, Tony noticed this and picked her up easily. He carried her from the Rhodes kitchen to the guest bedroom she was staying in because her dad had to leave for a mission that he couldn't refuse.

Tony set Pepper down on the bed and gently tucked her in. He walked over to the window and closed the curtains to make it darker for her, "T-Tony…" Pepper whispered from the bed. Tony walked over to her and sat down next to her. "What?" he asked brushing the hair from her face. "I-I can't stop thinking about it…the-the guy who…" Pepper said trailing off. Tony shushed her and kissed her forehead, "Pepper he will never come near you again. I won't let him." He said hugging her. Pepper hugged him back and kept his hand in hers. Tony was just about to leave but stopped when Pepper didn't let go of his hand, "C-can you stay…?" she asked and Tony sighed and laid down next to her, "sure thing Pep…" he said and wrapped his arms around her.

Pepper rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "I love you…" she whispered before she drifted into a dreamless sleep. Tony glanced down at her and smiled, "love you too." He whispered back and spent this time to dream and think and plot for the future.

**In Boston:**

Dylan sighed and hung up his last picture of Pepper Potts. The pictures covered the walls like wallpaper. "She will be saved. She will be free." He kept muttering as he drew angel wings on her. "Next year she will be free." He whispered.

**(A/N The End until next Valentine's Day! Please review!)**


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